In rotation: 9/17/18

We could be looking at a new standard called “HD-Vinyl”: …The standards for the manufacture of vinyl records have served us well, but because of the rise of the CD in the 80s and 90s, none of those standards have been revised since 1978. That’s about to change. With vinyl sales into their 11th year of double-digit growth, the recording industry has decided that it’s time to bring the old manufacturing standards into the 21st century. Some new upgraded specifications are sorely needed. But like what? One term that’s being thrown around is HD-Vinyl, records created by a new laser-guided process that allegedly results in a longer-playing record with better fidelity than anything we see today. And yes, it has to be backward-compatible for turntables and styluses used today.

Washington, DC | Ira Sabin, D.C. record-store owner, founder of JazzTimes magazine, dies at 90: …In 1962, he bought out a brother-in-law who had a record store, renaming it Sabin’s Discount Records. The store, at Ninth and U streets NW, was in the heart of Washington’s thriving jazz district, within walking distance of two theaters and six jazz clubs. The shop carried one of the country’s largest collections of jazz recordings, and musicians often stopped by to shop and chat. “He seemed to attract folks and had this bon-vivant manner,” Lee Mergner, a former editor and publisher of JazzTimes, said in an interview. “In Ira’s world, people were all ‘cats’ and ‘chicks.’ He called everybody ‘baby’ and ‘man.’ ”

Urban Legends Reissues Kurtis Blow’s Landmark Self-Titled Debut, ‘Kurtis Blow,’ On Standard & Limited Edition Gold Vinyl: Urban Legends/UMe has reissued the out-of-print debut LP by Kurtis Blow on standard black vinyl. In addition, a gold vinyl edition—inspired by “The Breaks,” which is the first Gold certified rap song—will also be released. In 1980, hip-hop found a charismatic orator who could comfortably represent the genre underneath its ever-expanding spotlight. Kurtis Blow, a young Harlem kid who studied communication in college was the perfect fit—handsome, squeaky-clean, and ready to represent the new-yet-growing landscape of rap. “The Breaks” was an early smash single that helped not only launch Blow’s career, but also positioned rap as something that could be popularized beyond the fleeting trend it was originally perceived as.

Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Electric Ladyland’ Gets 50th-Anniversary Deluxe Release Including Live SBD Of 1968 Hollywood Bowl Show: On October 16, 1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their final album, Electric Ladyland. The sprawling double-LP opus proved to be the last studio album Hendrix would release before his death in 1970. The album has been lauded as one of the greatest of all time, largely because of the famously inspired, experimental state of mind that Hendrix maintained while working on the record. Now, fans can revisit Electric Ladyland and that creatively fruitful period in Jimi’s brief life from every angle with an upcoming 50th-anniversary deluxe edition package. The Electric Ladyland deluxe addition will feature outtakes, live concert recordings, a documentary on the making of the album, photo inserts, a book, and more, and is set to be released on November 9th.

Despite Streaming Revolution, Vinyl Resurgence Continues To Grow: The vinyl resurgence is showing continued growth, with vinyl album sales growing from 3.23 million to 4.1 million units from 2016 to 2017 according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Five years ago Radio Facts predicted the resurgence of Vinyl and Record Player Nostalgia. The ‘experience’ that baby boomers grew up with when it came to buying records was completely lost in the CD and the digital era. In the face of the industry-revolutionizing rise of streaming, the rebirth of vinyl was an initial surprise. Speaking to Music Week, Karen Emanuel (CEO of Key Production, manufacturer of CD, DVD, and vinyl) noted “I thought we would see a plateau in vinyl before now and we haven’t. For us, the format is still growing.”